Chapter 627 - 471: Staring into the Abyss
Chapter 627: Chapter 471: Staring into the Abyss
The Deadlands were filled with countless swamps, most of which were located in its outer regions.
The creatures within the Deadlands, including the will-o’-wisps, all relied on Death Energy to survive. The moment they left the Deadlands, they would be instantly annihilated.
Life and death, Spiritual Energy and Death Energy—two pairs of opposing forces, locked in a cycle of creation and destruction.
Resources in the swamplands were scarce, with only a few scattered, low-level will-o’-wisps in existence. For a newborn will-o’-wisp to grow stronger, its only path was to advance by devouring its own kind.
It left its birthplace and flew toward the darker depths of the swamp.
Darkness was constant, and there was no concept of time here. However, the deeper it flew, the higher the concentration of Death Energy became. It could feel its own power condensing within the thick Death Energy.
Death Energy entered the vortex within its body. With a single rotation inside, the Death Energy was actually refined and became part of its Fire Element Energy.
The vortex was like a bottomless pit. Any form of energy sucked into it would emerge as Fire Element Energy after a single spin.
In the absolute darkness of the swamp, its fist-sized body shone like a brilliant, flickering lantern.
Finally, a few faint points of light glimmered not far ahead. As it drew closer, it discovered dozens of will-o’-wisp clusters, each keeping to its own territory.
Its arrival unsettled the clusters, which had been wary of one another. The red, low-level will-o’-wisps all scurried into their burrows, not daring to come out.
In this region of the swamp, there were over a dozen orange-yellow will-o’-wisps alone. The largest cluster was a shocking three times its size.
Not only that, but the sheer number of will-o’-wisps was overwhelming—there were five yellow clusters. Even more terrifying, all five of these yellow will-o’-wisps were larger and their energy purer than the two yellow clusters from the previous swamp region.
Will-o’-wisps possessed neither emotion nor intelligence, only a mutual attraction to one another.
A low-level will-o’-wisp was like bait, attracting a High-level one to devour its very essence. It was no different. ’To get stronger, I must consume.’ Even if there were more powerful yellow will-o’-wisps here, they weren’t unbeatable.
Its arrival shattered the tranquility of the swamp, startling the red will-o’-wisps into a panicked flight. The Fire Element Energy within its body was simply too alluring, stirring the orange-yellow and yellow will-o’-wisps into action.
It had intended to find a resting place in the muck first, but just as it was about to fly down, it saw a yellow will-o’-wisp three times its size leap up and charge at it.
Devouring the weak to become stronger was pure instinct here.
The yellow will-o’-wisp excitedly enveloped the newcomer in its power, simultaneously probing into its body.
If it didn’t act quickly, its prey would be snatched by the other yellow will-o’-wisps of its kind. At that point, it would be lucky to get even a small share.
At that very moment, the other four yellow will-o’-wisps spotted the commotion and charged forward.
However, halfway through their leap, they suddenly scattered and fled. The yellow will-o’-wisp that had captured the newcomer had suddenly exploded from the inside out. A dense wave of Fire Element Energy radiated outward from the blast.
If they hadn’t been so fast, they likely would have suffered the fate of being burned to pieces.
After the yellow will-o’-wisp shattered, the newcomer snatched its largest core fragment and began to absorb it.
Although yellow was a level higher than orange-yellow, the Fire Element Energy within its own body could directly draw out the energy from inside the yellow will-o’-wisp, sucking it into the vortex to be automatically converted.
Just like that, it absorbed a large, fist-sized piece of the yellow will-o’-wisp.
As it absorbed the pure power of the yellow will-o’-wisp, one part was converted into Fire Element Energy and stored in the vortex, while the other was absorbed by its main body.
Finally, its original orange-yellow color began to transform.
During this metamorphosis, the Fire Element Energy within the vortex began to condense, compressing itself until it finally ignited a small, beautiful, and vibrant flame inside the will-o’-wisp.
Its orange-yellow outer layer gradually faded away, and its body became a pure, flawless, light yellow. If one looked closely, an almost invisible flicker of flame could be seen burning fiercely in its very core.
It had become a yellow-level will-o’-wisp.
Although it was still only the size of a fist, its energy was in no way inferior to the four yellow will-o’-wisps that had fled.
After sensing the Fire Element Energy within it, all the other will-o’-wisps went into hiding, leaving it with no targets.